In modern
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...
, a surgeon is a
medical professional who performs
surgery
Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pa ...
. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
or received the same medical training as physicians before specializing in surgery. There are also surgeons in
podiatry
Podiatry () or podiatric medicine () is a branch of medicine devoted to the study, diagnosis, medical and surgical treatment of disorders of the foot, ankle, and leg.
A Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM), or a podiatrist, is a healthcare ...
,
dentistry
Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions of ...
, and
veterinary medicine
Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...
. It is estimated that surgeons perform over 300 million surgical procedures globally each year.
History
![Albucasis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Albucasis.gif)
The first person to document a surgery was the 6th century BC Indian physician-surgeon,
Sushruta
Sushruta, or ''Suśruta'' (Sanskrit: सुश्रुत, IAST: , ) was an ancient Indian physician. The '' Sushruta Samhita'' (''Sushruta's Compendium''), a treatise ascribed to him, is one of the most important surviving ancient treatises o ...
. He specialized in cosmetic plastic surgery and even documented an open
rhinoplasty
Rhinoplasty ( grc, ῥίς, rhī́s, nose + grc, πλάσσειν, plássein, to shape), commonly called nose job, medically called nasal reconstruction is a plastic surgery procedure for altering and reconstructing the nose. There are two typ ...
procedure.
[Ira D. Papel, John Frodel, ''Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery''] His
magnum opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
''Suśruta-saṃhitā'' is one of the most important surviving ancient treatises on medicine and is considered a foundational text of both
Ayurveda
Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population rep ...
and surgery. The treatise addresses all aspects of general medicine, but the translator G. D. Singhal dubbed Sushruta "the father of surgical intervention" on account of the extraordinarily accurate and detailed accounts of surgery to be found in the work.
After the eventual decline of the Sushruta School of Medicine in India, surgery was largely ignored until the
Islamic Golden Age
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign ...
surgeon
Al-Zahrawi
Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn al-'Abbās al-Zahrāwī al-Ansari ( ar, أبو القاسم خلف بن العباس الزهراوي; 936–1013), popularly known as al-Zahrawi (), Latinised as Albucasis (from Arabic ''Abū al-Qāsim''), was ...
(936-1013) re-established surgery as an effective medical practice. He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon to have appeared from the Islamic World, and has also been described as the
father of surgery.
His greatest contribution to medicine is the ''
Kitab al-Tasrif
The ''Kitāb al-Taṣrīf'' ( ar, كتاب التصريف لمن عجز عن التأليف, lit=The Arrangement of Medical Knowledge for One Who is Not Able to Compile a Book for Himself), known in English as The Method of Medicine, is a 30-volume ...
'', a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical practices.
He was the first physician to describe an
ectopic pregnancy
Ectopic pregnancy is a complication of pregnancy in which the embryo attaches outside the uterus. Signs and symptoms classically include abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding, but fewer than 50 percent of affected women have both of these symptom ...
, and the first physician to identify the hereditary nature of
haemophilia
Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruisin ...
.
His pioneering contributions to the field of surgical procedures and instruments had an enormous impact on surgery but it was not until the 18th century that surgery emerged as a distinct medical discipline in England.
In Europe, surgery was mostly associated with barber-surgeons who also used their hair-cutting tools to undertake surgical procedures, often at the battlefield and also for their employers. With advances in medicine and physiology, the professions of barbers and surgeons diverged; by the 19th century barber-surgeons had virtually disappeared, and surgeons were almost invariably qualified doctors who had specialized in surgery.
Surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
continued, however, to be used as the title for military medical officers until the end of the 19th century, and the title of
Surgeon General continues to exist for both senior military medical officers and senior government public health officers.
Titles in the Commonwealth
In 1950, the
Royal College of Surgeons of England
The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS England) is an independent professional body and registered charity that promotes and advances standards of surgical care for patients, and regulates surgery and dentistry in England and Wales. T ...
(RCS) in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
began to offer surgeons a formal status via RCS membership. The title ''Mister'' became a badge of honour, and today, in many
Commonwealth countries
The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 56 sovereign states. Most of them were British colonies or dependencies of those colonies.
No one government in the Commonwealth exercises power over the others, as is the case in a p ...
, a qualified doctor who, after at least four years' training, obtains a surgical qualification (formerly
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons
Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal ...
, but now also
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons
Membership of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (MRCS) is a postgraduate diploma for surgeons in the UK and Ireland. Obtaining this qualification allows a doctor to become a member of one of the four surgical colleges ...
or a number of other diplomas) is given the honour of being allowed to revert to calling themselves
Mr,
Miss
Miss (pronounced ) is an English language honorific typically used for a girl, for an unmarried woman (when not using another title such as " Doctor" or "Dame"), or for a married woman retaining her maiden name. Originating in the 17th century, i ...
,
Mrs
Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard English pronunciation: ) is a commonly used English honorific for women, usually for those who are married and who do not instead use another title (or rank), such as ''Doctor'', ''Profe ...
or
Ms in the course of their professional practice, but this time the meaning is different. It is sometimes assumed that the change of title implies
consultant
A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization.
Consulting servi ...
status (and some mistakenly think non-surgical consultants are Mr too), but the length of postgraduate medical training outside North America is such that a qualified surgeon may be years away from obtaining such a post: many doctors previously obtained these qualifications in the senior house officer grade, and remained in that grade when they began sub-specialty training. The distinction of Mr (etc.) is also used by surgeons in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...
, some states of
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
,
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
,
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
, and some other Commonwealth countries. However, as of August 2021, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons has announced that this practice is being phased out and now encourages the use of Dr or appropriate academic titles such as Professor.
Military titles
In many English-speaking countries the
''military'' title of surgeon is applied to any medical practitioner, due to the historical evolution of the term. The
US Army Medical Corps retains various surgeon
United States military occupation code
A United States military occupation code, or a military occupational specialty code (MOS code), is a nine-character code used in the United States Army and United States Marine Corps to identify a specific job. In the United States Air Force, a sy ...
s in the ranks of
officer
An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...
pay grades, for military personnel dedicated to performing surgery on wounded soldiers.
Specialties
Some physicians who are
general practitioners or specialists in
family medicine
Family medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primar ...
or
emergency medicine
Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuously learn to care for unsche ...
may perform limited ranges of minor, common, or emergency surgery.
Anesthesia
Anesthesia is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prevention of pain), paralysis (muscle relaxation), ...
often accompanies surgery, and
anesthesiologist
Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, ...
s and
nurse anesthetists
A nurse anesthetist is an advanced practice nurse who administers anesthesia for surgery or other medical procedures. They are involved in the administration of anesthesia in a majority of countries, with varying levels of autonomy.
A survey ...
may oversee this aspect of surgery.
Surgeon's assistant,
surgical nurses,
surgical technologist
A surgical technologist, also called a scrub, scrub tech, surgical technician, or operating room technician, is an allied health professional working as a part of the team delivering surgical care. Surgical technologists are members of the surgi ...
s are trained professionals who support surgeons.
In the United States, the Department of Labor description of a surgeon is "a physician who treats diseases, injuries, and deformities by invasive, minimally-invasive, or non-invasive surgical methods, such as using instruments, appliances, or by manual manipulation".
Pioneer surgeons
![Victor Horsley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Victor_Horsley.jpg)
* Dr. Ananyaa Mihir (pioneer of Cardiothoracic Surgery, notable for specialization in removing tumors)
*
Christiaan Barnard
Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8 November 1922 – 2 September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation. On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of accident-v ...
(cardiac surgery, first
heart transplantation
A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure or severe coronary artery disease when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedu ...
)
*
Alfred Blalock
Alfred Blalock (April 5, 1899 – September 15, 1964) was an American surgeon most noted for his work on the medical condition of shock as well as Tetralogy of Fallot— commonly known as Blue baby syndrome. He created, with assistance from h ...
(first modern day successful
open heart surgery
Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...
in 1944)
*
Nina Starr Braunwald
Nina Starr Braunwald (1928–1992) was an American thoracic surgeon and medical researcher who was among the first women to perform open-heart surgery. She was also the first woman to be certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and the ...
(First female
cardiac surgeon
Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to cor ...
)
*
Dorothy-Laviania Brown (First female African-American surgeon)
*
Victor Chang
Victor Peter Chang, AC (born Chang Yam Him; 21 November 19364 July 1991), was a Chinese-born Australian cardiac surgeon and a pioneer of modern heart transplantation in Australia. His sudden murder in 1991 stunned Australia, and is considered ...
Australian pioneer of heart transplantation
*
Harvey Cushing
Harvey Williams Cushing (April 8, 1869 – October 7, 1939) was an American neurosurgeon, pathologist, writer, and draftsman. A pioneer of brain surgery, he was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cushing's disease. ...
(pioneer, and often considered the father of, modern
neurosurgery
Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...
)
*
Eleanor Davies-Colley
Eleanor Davies-Colley FRCS (21 August 1874; Petworth, Sussex – 10 December 1934; London) was a British surgeon. Among the earliest women in the UK to pursue a career in surgery, at that time an almost entirely male-dominated profession, she ...
(Surgeon and founder of the South London Hospital for Women and Children)
*
Michael DeBakey
Michael Ellis DeBakey (September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was a Lebanese-American general and cardiovascular surgeon, scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery, President, and Chancellor of Baylor College ...
(educator and innovator in the field of
cardiac surgery
Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...
)
*
René Favaloro
René Gerónimo Favaloro (July 12, 1923 – July 29, 2000) was an Argentine cardiac surgeon and educator best known for his pioneering work on coronary artery bypass surgery using the great saphenous vein.
Early life
Favaloro was born in 192 ...
(first surgeon to perform
bypass surgery
Bypass surgery refers to a class of surgery involving rerouting a tubular body part.
Types include:
* Vascular bypass surgery such as coronary artery bypass surgery, a heart operation
* Cardiopulmonary bypass, a technique used in coronary artery ...
)
*
Svyatoslav Fyodorov
Svyatoslav Nikolayevich Fyodorov (; August 8, 1927 – June 2, 2000) was a Russian ophthalmologist, politician, professor, full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. He is considered to be a pioneer of ...
(creator of
radial keratotomy)
*
Harold Gillies
Sir Harold Delf Gillies (17 June 1882 – 10 September 1960) was a New Zealand otolaryngologist and father of modern plastic surgery.
Early life
Gillies was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, the son of Member of Parliament in Otago, Robert Gillies ...
(pioneer of plastic surgery)
*
Jesse Gray
Jesse Gray (May 14, 1923 – January 2, 1988) was an American civil rights leader and politician from New York (state), New York.
Biography
Jesse Gray was born on May 14, 1923, near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He came to New York City and was a tai ...
(First female chief of surgery at Hopkinz Hospital)
*
William Stewart Halsted
William Stewart Halsted, M.D. (September 23, 1852 – September 7, 1922) was an American surgeon who emphasized strict aseptic technique during surgical procedures, was an early champion of newly discovered anesthetics, and introduced several ...
(initiated surgical residency training in U.S., pioneer in many fields)
*
Michael R. Harrison (pioneer of
fetal surgery
Fetal surgery also known as antenatal surgery, prenatal surgery, is a growing branch of maternal-fetal medicine that covers any of a broad range of surgical techniques that are used to treat congenital abnormalities in fetuses who are still in ...
)
*Sir
Victor Horsley
Sir Victor Alexander Haden Horsley (14 April 1857 – 16 July 1916) was a British scientist and professor. He was born in Kensington, London. Educated at Cranbrook School, Kent, he studied medicine at University College London and in Berlin, Ge ...
(
neurosurgery
Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...
)
*
John Hunter (Scottish, viewed as the father of modern surgery, performed hundreds of dissections, served as the model for
Dr. Jekyll.)
*
Gavriil Ilizarov
Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov (russian: Гавриил Абрамович Илизаров; 15 June 1921 – 24 July 1992) was a Soviet physician, known for inventing the Ilizarov apparatus for lengthening limb bones and for the method of surgery n ...
, inventor of the
Ilizarov apparatus
In medicine, the Ilizarov apparatus is a type of external fixation apparatus used in orthopedic surgery to lengthen or to reshape the damaged bones of an arm or a leg; used as a limb-sparing technique for treating complex fractures and open bone ...
for lengthening limb bones and for the method of surgery named after him, the
Ilizarov surgery
*
Charles Kelman
Charles David Kelman (May 23, 1930June 1, 2004) was an American ophthalmologist, surgeon, inventor, jazz musician, entertainer, and Broadway producer. Known as the father of phacoemulsification, he developed many of the medical devices, instrume ...
(Invented
phacoemulsification
Phacoemulsification is a modern cataract surgery method in which the eye's internal lens is emulsified with an ultrasonic handpiece and aspirated from the eye. Aspirated fluids are replaced with irrigation of balanced salt solution to maintain ...
, the technique of modern cataract surgery)
*
Lars Leksell
Lars Leksell (1907–1986) was a Swedish physician and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He was the inventor of radiosurgery.
Life and career
Lars Leksell was born in Fässberg Parish, Sweden on Nove ...
(neurosurgery, inventor of
radiosurgery
Radiosurgery is surgery using radiation, that is, the destruction of precisely selected areas of tissue using ionizing radiation rather than excision with a blade. Like other forms of radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy), it is usually u ...
)
*
C. Walton Lillehei
Clarence Walton Lillehei (October 23, 1918 – July 5, 1999), was an American surgeon who pioneered open-heart surgery, as well as numerous techniques, equipment and prostheses for cardiothoracic surgery.
Background
Clarence (often called "W ...
(labeled "Father of modern day
open heart surgery
Cardiac surgery, or cardiovascular surgery, is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. It is often used to treat complications of ischemic heart disease (for example, with coronary artery bypass grafting); to corr ...
")
*
Joseph Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, (5 April 182710 February 1912) was a British surgeon, medical scientist, experimental pathologist and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery and preventative medicine. Joseph Lister revolutionised the craft of s ...
(discoverer of surgical
sepsis
Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...
,
Listerine
Listerine is an American brand of antiseptic mouthwash that is promoted with the slogan "Kills Microorganism, germs that cause bad breath", Named after Joseph Lister, who pioneered antiseptic surgery at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Scotland, L ...
named in his honour)
*
B. K. Misra
Dr. Basant Kumar Misra is a neurosurgeon specialising in treating brain, spine, cerebrovascular and peripheral nervous system disorders, injuries, pathologies and malformations. He is the Vice-President of the World Federation of Neurosurgical ...
- First neurosurgeon in the world to perform
image-guided surgery Image-guided surgery (IGS) is any surgical procedure where the surgeon uses tracked surgical instruments in conjunction with preoperative or intraoperative images in order to directly or indirectly guide the procedure. Image guided surgery systems u ...
for
aneurysm
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus (s ...
s, first in South Asia to perform
stereotactic radiosurgery
Stereotactic surgery is a minimally invasive form of surgical intervention that makes use of a three-dimensional coordinate system to locate small targets inside the body and to perform on them some action such as ablation, biopsy, lesion, injec ...
, first in India to perform
awake craniotomy
Awake craniotomy is a neurosurgical technique and type of craniotomy that allows a surgeon to remove a brain tumor while the patient is awake to avoid brain damage. During the surgery, the neurosurgeon performs cortical mapping to identify vita ...
and
laparoscopic
Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.Medlin ...
spine surgery.
*
Ioannis Pallikaris
Ioannis G. Pallikaris ( el, Παλλήκαρης Ιωάννης; born November 18, 1947) is a Greek ophthalmologist who in 1989 performed the first LASIK procedure on a human eye. Pallikaris also developed Epi-LASIK.
Professor Palikaris was t ...
(Greek surgeon. Performed the first LASIK procedure on a
human eye
The human eye is a sensory organ, part of the sensory nervous system, that reacts to visible light and allows humans to use visual information for various purposes including seeing things, keeping balance, and maintaining circadian rhythm.
...
. Developed
Epi-LASIK Epi-LASIK is a refractive surgery technique designed to reduce a person's dependency on eyeglasses and contact lenses. Invented by Dr. Ioannis Pallikaris, the technique is basically an automatic LASEK without alcohol; it can be better considered as ...
.)
*
Fidel Pagés
Fidel Pagés Miravé (26 January 1886 – 21 September 1923) was a Spanish military surgeon, known for developing the technique of epidural anesthesia.
He practised a wide range of traumatological and surgical techniques, both for war injuries an ...
(pioneer of
epidural anesthesia
Epidural administration (from Ancient Greek ἐπί, , upon" + ''dura mater'') is a method of medication administration in which a medicine is injected into the epidural space around the spinal cord. The epidural route is used by physicians and ...
)
*
Wilder Penfield
Wilder Graves Penfield (January 26, 1891April 5, 1976) was an American Canadians, American-Physicians in Canada, Canadian neurosurgeon. He expanded brain surgery's methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of th ...
(neurosurgery)
*
Gholam A. Peyman
Gholam A. Peyman (born 1 January 1937) is an ophthalmologist
Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecia ...
(Inventor of
LASIK
LASIK or Lasik (''laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis''), commonly referred to as laser eye surgery or laser vision correction, is a type of refractive surgery for the correction of myopia, hyperopia, and an actual cure for astigmatism, since ...
,)
*
Nikolay Pirogov
Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Пирого́в; — ) was a Russian scientist, medical doctor, pedagogue, public figure, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1847), one of the m ...
(the founder of
field surgery
Battlefield medicine, also called field surgery and later combat casualty care, is the treatment of wounded combatants and non-combatants in or near an area of combat. Medicine, Civilian medicine has been greatly advanced by procedures that wer ...
)
*
Jennie Simile Robertson (first female surgeon in Canada)
*
Kakish Ryskulova
Kakish Ryskulova, in Kyrgyz: Какиш Рыскулова (15 October 1918) - 26 August 2018) was a medical doctor and politician from Kyrgyzstan, who was an Academician of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences. She was the first central Asian and firs ...
(first female surgeon in Kyrgyzstan)
*
Valery Shumakov (pioneer of artificial organs implantation)
*
Maria Siemionow (pioneer of near-total face transplant surgery)
*
Sushruta
Sushruta, or ''Suśruta'' (Sanskrit: सुश्रुत, IAST: , ) was an ancient Indian physician. The '' Sushruta Samhita'' (''Sushruta's Compendium''), a treatise ascribed to him, is one of the most important surviving ancient treatises o ...
(the first to document an operation of open
rhinoplasty
Rhinoplasty ( grc, ῥίς, rhī́s, nose + grc, πλάσσειν, plássein, to shape), commonly called nose job, medically called nasal reconstruction is a plastic surgery procedure for altering and reconstructing the nose. There are two typ ...
)
*
Paul Tessier
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
* Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
(French surgeon in
Craniofacial surgery
Craniofacial surgery is a surgical subspecialty that deals with congenital disorder, congenital and acquired deformity, deformities of the human head, head, human skull, skull, face, neck, jaws and associated structures. Although craniofacial treat ...
)
*
Mary Edwards Walker
Mary Edwards Walker, M.D. (November 26, 1832 – February 21, 1919), commonly referred to as Dr. Mary Walker, was an American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war and surgeon. She is the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor. ...
(first female surgeon in the United States)
*
Gazi Yasargil (Turkish
neurosurgeon
Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...
, founder of
microneurosurgery)
*
al-Zahrawi
Abū al-Qāsim Khalaf ibn al-'Abbās al-Zahrāwī al-Ansari ( ar, أبو القاسم خلف بن العباس الزهراوي; 936–1013), popularly known as al-Zahrawi (), Latinised as Albucasis (from Arabic ''Abū al-Qāsim''), was ...
, regarded as one of the greatest medieval surgeons and a father of surgery.
[A. Martin-Araguz, C. Bustamante-Martinez, Ajo V. Fernandez-Armayor, J. M. Moreno-Martinez (2002)]
Organizations and fellowships
*
ACFAS
*
FACS
*
FRACDS
*
FRACS
*
FRCS
Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an intercollegiate basis by the four Royal Colleges of Surgeons (the Royal C ...
*
FRCS (Canada)
*
FRCS (Edinburgh)
*
FRCSI (Ireland)
*
MRCS
References
{{Authority control
Surgeons
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
Health care occupations
Positions of authority
Hospital staff